How do I discover PST files and upload them to Azure via a Group Policy Object?

How do I discover PST files and upload them to Azure via a Group Policy Object?

Answer:

To discover PST files on the network and then upload them to Azure, complete each of the steps detailed below, in order:

Important: Using UploaderWiz with autodiscover mode may not discover the correct owners for the PST file. If it fails to discover the owner, a unique name is created which can make it hard to identify the owner and configure the project properly. To set up UploaderWiz more directly without using the autodiscover mode, you can use the instructions in this article instead: Using BitTitan UploaderWiz for File Server Migrations

Step 1: Create a network share that is accessible to all of your customer’s computers, and put the UploaderWiz-extracted files in the share folder.

Replace \\servername\sharename with the share's network path. Example: \\PTS-FILESRV\discover\UploaderWiz\UploaderWiz.exe , where the file server name = PTS-FILESRV, the share name = discover, and the files were extracted into a directory named UploaderWiz.

If PST files for all users are in a certain directory, then you can add a flag to define the rootpath. For example, if PST files are always in a directory named c:\pst, then you can add the following flag to your command line parameters: -rootpath c:\pst

Step 4: Create a Group Policy Object that forces the domain-joined computers in a security filter to execute the batch file through a scheduled task.

Log on to the Active Directory Domain Controller as an administrator.

Click Start, and search for Group Policy Management.

Click Group Policy Management.

Right-click the desired Active Directory domain, and then click Create a GPO in this domain, and Link it here.

Enter a name for the GPO, and then click OK.

Note: By default, the GPO will apply to all users and computers that successfully authenticate to the Active Directory domain.

To narrow the scope of computers that run the batch file, select Authenticated Users, and click Remove.

To confirm the removal, click OK.

To add a new security filter, click Add.

Type the name of the security group that the target computers are a member of, and click Check names.

In the Programs/script text box, enter the network path for the batch file. Note: If you use the Browse button to find the location of the script, it will add the path as c:\xxxx. This is incorrect, since the script needs to include the UNC path and not the local path. Be sure to replace the c:\ format with the \\servername\sharename\ format.

Click OK.

Click the Conditions tab.

Add a checkmark next to Start only if the following network connection is available, and then select Any connection.

Click OK.

Close the Group Policy Management Editor, and then close Group Policy Management.

The discover.bat file will execute on user computers at the next Group Policy refresh, typically every 90 minutes, with a random offset of 0 to 30 minutes.

Step 5: Check Azure blob container for PST files.

After waiting the allotted GPO refresh time, check your Azure blob container for the PST files.

If PST files are not discovered and uploaded to the container, refer to KB005473, for troubleshooting advice. Note: UploaderWiz log files are stored in %LOCALAPPDATA%\BitTitan folder.

If PST files have been discovered and uploaded to Azure, then you are ready to continue with your PST migration project. You can create a MigrationWiz Personal Archive project, and autodiscover the PST files in Azure and import them into your project, by following the steps in the PST migration guide. KB004993